Alcatraz: Cancelled; No Season Two

Published: May 9, 2012

FOX has thrown away the key on Alcatraz. The J.J. Abrams thriller has been cancelled after one season and 13 episodes.

Alcatraz follows the investigations of police detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) and Doctor Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia). They work to uncover how 340 inmates and guards disappeared from the infamous prison in 1963 and why they’re now reappearing looking just the same. The show also features the talents of Jonny Coyne, Parminder Nagra, Jason Butler Harner, and Sam Neill.

Fueled by a lot of promotion, the TV series was launched in January and drew good reviews and strong numbers. The two-hour premiere attracted a 3.3 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic with 10.05 million total viewers. Opposite some tough competition from CBS, Alcatraz was in second place in its timeslots.

In week two, the demo slipped 9% to a still respectable 3.0 rating with 9.03 million. Week three dropped another 7%. That wasn’t positive but not horrible either but the ratings just kept falling.

Should FOX have cancelled Alcatraz?

In February, NBC launched season two of The Voice and Alcaraz’s ratings took a big dive. They ropped 18% on February 6th and then another 17% on the 13th. The numbers just kept falling after that.

The two-hour season (now series) finale was in fourth place in the timeslots and averaged a disappointing 1.6 demo rating with 4.76 million total viewers.

The first season of Alcatraz ended up averaging a 2.2 demo rating with 6.74 million viewers — and those numbers would have dropped lower had there been more episodes.

On our FOX report card — which ranks the network’s shows based on demo averages — Alcatraz has a “C” and that just wasn’t good enough to get a renewal.

FOX chose to keep Touch instead but the network stays in business with producer J.J. Abrams via the network’s Fringe renewal.

What happened? It would seem that Alcatraz just wasn’t compelling enough to keep viewers returning week after week. Plus, for the first time in quite awhile, all three of the major networks had really strong programming on Monday nights. Two of the competing shows — The Voice and Dancing with the Stars — are reality competitions and many viewers feel compelled to watch them “live” rather than catch them online or via DVR recordings.

All 13 episodes of Alcatraz have aired and the last episode left viewers wondering what would happen next. Unless the producers decide to share what they had in mind for season two, we’ll never know the answers to the show’s mysteries.

What do you think? Why do you think Alcatraz failed to hold onto a bigger audience? Did FOX make a mistake by cancelling the series? What will you miss about it?

Alcatraz was a great show and it should not have been cancelled its quite pathetic really You get into a show then it goes and cancel
You should really re think this and bring it back the show. The voice is rubbish alcatraz is miles better than that will ever be

I have just stumbled across thsis ill-fated program via Amazon’s ‘Love Film’ service (similar to Netflix) in the UK.
To put it bluntly, there was nothing ‘wrong’ with this show that replacing Jorge Garcia wouldn’t have fixed. Terrible mis-casting.
The story-line had merit, Sarah Jones was great, Sam Neil was over-acting as usual, but not terminally so.
If Mr Garcia had been replaced, it would have had significantly better chances of survival.

I too am annoyed that they decided to cancel the second series! How can they say it wasn’t compelling viewing, it’s beyond me. They finished it with so many questions to be answered. I think they should rethink again especially with the amount of unhappy viewers from all around the world!

After waiting and waiting for the next series/season I have now found out that yet again these networks have cancelled a good programme., We have no answers. it was starting to come together with more queries coming and booomf it’s now gone. Come on Fox get a grip and pay to have series 2 please

I can’t believe they are cancelling Alcatraz. Have watched all 13 episodes and was looking forward to the next. I hope they chAnge their minds. And I believe they should change the day, Let the people who like the realities let them watch them, i myself am fed up with these reality shows, they are boring. It’s a shame these tv people do not listen more to viewers.

I am so disappointed that such a fresh original show it not coming back. I also find it sad that the programers care so little for their viewing audience that they just leave it hanging. I loved it from the weird to the unexplained to just being attached to alcatraz and it’s history. Sad stupid choice. Just another reason to stop watching that channel and stick with my cable.

What a bunch of crap! I looked forward to monday nights to see the show. And if what they’re saying about losing ratings to those reality shows is true i think they’re full of shit. THOSE SHOWS SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!! The idiotic exec’s need to figure something out like a new night and time slot for example. Please bring back Alcatraz!!!!

My husband and I have been waiting for season 2 of Alcatraz and are very disappointed that it is not returning. I loved the concept, the acting and the episodes were compelling. I have never liked reality shows and I have don’t even recognize the “stars” on Dancing with the Stars. I’ve pretty much figured out the how to discover “who done it” in most crime procedurals. So they are getting pretty boring. The one exception is “Elementary”. And hospital dramas don’t attract me anymore. Justified made a big mistake in killing of Madge and NCIS ends this season. I think getting the right time slot is key to this program. Bring it back!

I’m a big fan of JJ Abrams and his crew. Love “Person of Interest’. It just gets better. But bring back Michael Emerson’s wife and get her more involved.

I was looking for the second season to come out soon! i’ve been waiting since the last episode to know what was going to come!! I really pray they change their mind maybe changing the day it comes on so that it doesn’t have to fight for views with more established shows will increase the views. Either way i will be watching